Maramureș County Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art and the Village Museum, Baia Mare.

The Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art of Baia Mare County is a public cultural institution subordinated to the Maramures County Council. The museum is located on the Hill of Flowers, in a picturesque area of the city, near the historic centre. The institution consists of two locations: The Rural Museum and the Pavilion Section, located in the former Summer Theatre of the city.

 In front of the Pavilion Section is a sculptural ensemble by the famous sculptor Vida Geza, consisting of 12 columns depicting figures from Maramures and masks from local mythology, reminiscent of the massacre committed on 14 October 1944 by the retreating Horthyst troops.

The Youth Field offers a wide green area located in the immediate vicinity of the Queen Mary Municipal Park, a recreational destination for those who enjoy long and relaxing walks.

Brief history. In 1899, the Baia Mare Museum Association was founded in Baia Mare, formed by the city’s intelligentsia, whose members donated the objects that made up the first collections of the Baia Mare Museum. The Second World War interrupted the work of the museum, which was resumed in 1950, but then a special emphasis was placed on the history department. It was only in 1964 that the section of ethnography and folk art was approved.

The significant increase in the collections of the Ethnography Department, as well as the special value of the works recognised by major experts in this field: Tancred Benecianu, Boris Zderciuc, Silvia Zderciuc, Nicolae Ungureanu, Cornel Irimiei, and Giorgeta Stoica, led to the organisation of an ethnographic museum with an ex-pavilion. For this purpose, the building of the Summer Theatre, which was then in deep degradation, was obtained, and later underwent major repairs and refurbishment to accommodate both the exposition and the department’s warehouses. The idea of preserving the space for performances was not abandoned: a stage and an amphitheatre with a capacity of about 800 seats.

On 1 July 1978, the first exhibition of the main pavilion of the Department of Ethnography and Folk Art opened. This exhibition was kept until 2007, when a new main exhibition was opened: Wood in Traditional Communities from Cradle to Grave.

On 15 August 1985, after long efforts by industry experts and local authorities, an open-air section, the Village Museum, was inaugurated. The monuments of folk architecture represent four ethnographic regions of the county: Historic Maramures, Chioar, Lăpuș and Codru. 

The museum also tried to present the types of farms according to the main occupation of the inhabitants of the area of origin. Thus, we have farms from the Lapusului region, vineyards from the Baia Mare sub-zone, fruit growers from the Maramuresului region, etc. Technical structures, such as water wheels, pipes, whirlpools and water mills, were not left out.

The museum was developed around a wooden church originating from the village of Chechiș (Dumbravita commune), an area that belonged to the domain of Baia Mare (cf. documentary evidence from 1566). The church has been on this site (Dealul Florilor – Baia Mare) since 1939 and dates back to 1630.

"Elie Wiesel" Memorial House, Sighetu Marmatiei.

“If the Greeks invented tragedy, the Romans invented the epistle and the Renaissance sonnet, then our generation has invented a new literature – the literature of witnessing. We have all been witnesses, and we feel that we will have to witness the future. And this became the mana, the single and strongest bosom that marked all the lives, all the dreams, all the works of these people. Even a minute before he died, they thought he had to do it.” Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel’s memorial house. At the Maramures Museum of Jewish Culture, we connect people with the memory and life experiences of the Jews of Maramures through the cultural heritage of Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel. The story we tell is the story of a place and of special people, and we try to capture, through reflection, interaction and exchange, the essence and complexity of the region with its contrasts and harmonies through collections, exhibitions and programmes for a wide audience. We take an active part in the life and history of Sigit and contribute to the cultural, educational, social and economic cohesion of the city with all our activities.

 Located at the birthplace of Elie Wiesel, where he was born and lived until the age of 15, the Museum of Jewish Culture in Maramures is a place where we can understand the past in order to shape the future.

The house in which Elie Wiesel was born is located on Dragoș Vodă Street, at the corner of Tudor Vladimirescu Street, in an area that was part of one of the Jewish neighbourhoods of Sighet. It is characteristic of the areas of Transylvania and Central Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both in terms of architecture and interior design.

Its aim was to highlight Elie Wiesel’s personality, life, and activities, and to commemorate the Jewish community in Sigit and Maramures in a synthesis, as space and documentation allowed: rooms with antique furniture belonging to various Jewish families in Maramures, objects of worship and everyday life, documents, relevant photographs, photo and documentary reconstructions of the Holocaust in Maramures and Northern Transylvania, periodically supplemented by temporary exhibitions related to the communal, cultural, and social life of the Jews of Maramures. As an extension of the Elie Wiesel Memorial House, two Jewish houses, the Drimer House in Bârsana and the Jewish shepherd’s house in Poienile-Izei, were converted into the Village Museum. Both houses, by agreement, contribute to completing the portrait of the Jewish community of Maramures.

"Mocănița" – The steam train from Vaser Valley, Vişeul de Sus.

Welcome to Mocănița, Maramureș! We invite you to enjoy a unique experience, a journey on the last active forest railway in the world on which steam locomotives run, in a wild and charming natural setting located right in the heart of the Maramureș Mountains and also to learn the history of steam locomotives on the Vaser Valley. 

You are near the Forest Railway in Vişeu de Sus, right in northern Romania, close to the border with Ukraine where the Vaser Valley gives you the chance to enter and discover a magical world filled with tradition and authenticity.

Today we will travel with Mocanita 43.2 km round trip in about 6 hours with breaks included. The route to the final tourist station is about 2 h30 minutes with an intermediate break on the route of 10-15 minutes at km 16, Glimboaca station where the locomotive will be supplied with wood and water. At this stop, if desired, you can serve hot drinks (coffee, hot chocolate or tea), soft drinks (juices, still water and mineral water) and pastries (donut or pie with slightly salted cheese).

 Then we reach Paltin final station where the break will be about 1h30min, during which you can enjoy the beauty of the Vaser Valley, visit a small museum presenting the history of the Vaser Valley or buy a souvenir for your loved ones. 

Lunch can also be served. Those who already have the Mocănița Special packages (vouchers received from the ticket office) will go to a separate service point, where you only have to hand over the tickets and in exchange you receive the desired product. Tourists who have opted for simple tickets can purchase lunch for a fee, passing by the stand specially arranged for them.

Then you can join the traditional dance called hora with our colleagues, folk music dancers. We advise you to carefully read the rules for tourists’ travel with Mocănița Maramureș. 

The Forest Railways came into being to respond to an economic need: transporting timber from mountain areas. The exploitation of wood resources in the Vaser Valley began in the 17th century, under Austro-Hungarian domination. The German-speaking colonists entered the virgin forests first and with the help of rafting brought the cut wood to the sawmills in Vişeu de Sus.

In 1932 construction began on the Forest Railway, a narrow gauge railway, which compared to rafting meant an enormous technical progress. Forest railways at that time spread throughout Europe, especially in the Carpathian area. The principle of operation was simple – following the course of the river, a narrow radius of curves was required (this allowed only a narrow gauge); on the way up, Mocănița carried only wagons with workers and empty wagons for logs, but on the way down they were filled with wood and practically the locomotive was pushed on the tracks by the weight of the train arriving to the wood processing factory.

Due to the development of road transport in the 50s and 60s, forest railways in Europe progressively disappeared. In Romania, however, they have remained for quite long, due to slower economic development. In 1970 there were over 3600 km of forest railway in the country, and in 1986 new steam locomotives were still manufactured in Romania. At the end of the 80s, over 15 forestry railways with an infrastructure of over 1000 km were operating in the country. The only forest railway functional today is Mocanita on the Vaser Valley – all others have been taken out of service.

In order for steam locomotives to be kept for tourist activity for as long as possible, production trains predominantly use Diesel locomotives. The forest railway has a total length of 46km. The first section was completed in 1933, about 32 km to Făina station. The remaining 14 km, as well as other branches in adjacent valleys, were built between 1950 and 1954. The narrow gauge of the line, with only 760 mm, is specific to forest railways and was built according to the Austro-Hungarian model of the pre-war period. The Vaser Valley forest railway remained the only active and functional railway in Europe, on which logs were still transported. 

We currently have 7 steam locomotives in operation.

The 5 locomotives manufactured in Resita have 150 hp, and the average speed, together with rolling stock, is maximum 15 km/h.

The Vaser Valley, besides being fascinating, is also a valley that generates legends. Many of these legends actually turn out to be reality. One of them is that from Miraj, today a railway station, a place on the Vaser Valley about which it is said that in the autumn of 1916, in the middle of World War, here took place a battle between the Russian and German armies. Thus, at Miraj arises a “very strange” cemetery, particular in terms of architecture.

In World War II, the same combatants tried to secure control of the Vaser Valley as an access route to the Maramureş region. The retreating German troops considered the narrow gorge at Novicior suitable for organizing an ambush against the Red Army that was about to enter Maramureş. In this regard, engineering works were carried out in which thousands of people from north-western Transylvania participated in forced labour detachments, many of them being even inhabitants of Vişeu. Engineering work prepared by German troops for an ambush was useless when the Red Army made its passage through the Prislop Pass. Therefore, when the organization of defence by German-Hungarian troops seemed compromised, the Hungarians ordered the evacuation of Vişeu and implicitly of the Vaser Valley. To slow the Russian advance into Maramureş, bridges were blown up, much of the rolling stock was damaged, and the forest railway was almost completely destroyed. Traces of the presence of the German army are still visible today at Novicior: a cave used as a first aid point at that time, as well as two galleries used for storing ammunition and weapons.

 The natural potential of the Vaser Valley is based on its hydrographical network, being known that the Maramureș Mountains are crossed by numerous springs, floral features and fauna diversity. The most famous mineral springs are those from Șuligu, being used in the past for bottling and balneary treatments. The flora of the Natural Park consists of vegetal species distributed in tiers:

Among the floristic features of the massif we mention the edelweiss flower, lady’s slipper, mountain carnation, mountain bulb, daffodil, autumn crocus, mountain cuckoo beak 

The fauna of the Park is diversified and well represented by several species of mammals (brown bear, stag, deer, gray wolf, wild boar, fox, lynx, squirrel and marten)

 The most important attractions on the route are the following: 

 For those passionate about hiking, the Vaser Valley is the perfect natural setting for an adventure in the Maramureș Mountains.

"Nativity of the Virgin Mary" wooden church from Ieud Deal, UNESCO.  

The wooden Church of the Nativity in Ieud din Deal dates back to the early 17th century, when it was built by the Bala family, part of the local nobility. In addition to its early dating, the church is also notable for the discovery in 1921 of the Ieud Codex in its attic, a document that some historians believe is the oldest text written in Romanian in Cyrillic letters. Since 1999, the church has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Bârsana Monastic Complex, Bârsana. 

One of the most visited attractions in Maramureș, the Bârsana Orthodox Convent is a monastic ensemble consisting of several wooden buildings and following the traditional style of Maramureș, with a church tower that stands out, 74 metres high. 

The foundation stone of the new monastery was laid in 1993 on the site of the old monastery, which operated from the beginning of the 14th century until 1791, when it was dismantled and the monastery church was moved to the village in 1806. 

The wooden church of the “Entry of the Virgin into the Temple” in Bârsana is of particular beauty and is specific to the small churches of Maramureș with a double roof. The shrine, built in 1720, was originally the church of the old Bârsana Monastery, converted into a parish church in 1806, when it was moved to its current location. The interior walls were decorated with paintings in 1806. Due to its inestimable value, the church has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.

30 The wooden church Bârsana
1 The wooden church Bârsana
2 The wooden church Bârsana
3 The wooden church Bârsana
4 The wooden church Bârsana
5 The wooden church Bârsana
6 The wooden church Bârsana
7 The wooden church Bârsana
8 The wooden church Bârsana
9 The wooden church Bârsana
10 The wooden church Bârsana
11 The wooden church Bârsana
12 The wooden church Bârsana
13 The wooden church Bârsana
14 The wooden church Bârsana
15 The wooden church Bârsana
16 The wooden church Bârsana
17 The wooden church Bârsana
18 The wooden church Bârsana
19 The wooden church Bârsana
20 The wooden church Bârsana
21 The wooden church Bârsana
22 The wooden church Bârsana
23 The wooden church Bârsana
24 The wooden church Bârsana
25 The wooden church Bârsana
26 The wooden church Bârsana
27 The wooden church Bârsana
28 The wooden church Bârsana
29 The wooden church Bârsana

"Saint Nicholas" wooden church from Budești Josani, UNESCO.

The wooden church dedicated to “Saint Nicholas” in Budesti Josani, built in 1643, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. With a length of 18 metres, a width of 8 metres and a height of 26 metres, the building is the largest wooden church in historic Maramures. Inside the church, there are a number of paintings and icons attributed to Alexandru Ponehalski, as well as some references to the outlaw, Pintea the Brave.

Ensemble of rural culture and architecture from Breb.

The village of Breb is located in the central and northern part of the Maramures Basin, in the upper part of the Mara River basin, in the northern foothills of the Gutai massif, in the valley of the Breboia stream. The village is located 6 km from the resort of Ocna-Sugatag, 27 km from Sighetu Marmatiei and 54 km from Baia Mare.

Together with the villages of Hoceni and Sugatag, Breb belongs to the Okna-Sugatag community, from which it is 7 km away.

Access is via a local road, 1 km from the county road DJ 109 F. At the entrance to the village, you will be greeted by the famous Maramures gate.

The village of Breb includes territories that were part of the Grand Duchy of the Sea in the medieval period and appear in documents under the names Breb, Copacis (or Copaceni) and Vala Mare.

The first written evidence dates back to 20 March 1360, when King Louis I of Anjou recognised Dragos, son of Giulia, as the owner of the estates of Breb, Kopacis, Slatina (present-day Ocna Sugatag), Desheşti, Herniceşti and Sat Sugatag. In these documents, the village appears under the name Villa Olahalis or Hodpataka, which translates as “village of the brook sheep”, sheep meaning beaver (a rodent that adapted to aquatic life, which has meanwhile disappeared from these lands, but whose memory is preserved by the place name of the village).

Several documents from the XIV-XVI centuries tell about this village and the families that owned it.

In the 19th century, there was a confessional school here, and in 1880 the Breb Ploughmen’s Choir was founded. The town was also known for its sulphurous waters. Until 1918, baths could still be seen here, where, as they say, the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Joseph II also came. At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1910, there were 366 houses in the village.

In 1912, among the 1670 inhabitants there were Romanians and Jews, and in 1930 the national composition was as follows: 1530 Romanians, 159 Jews, and a Russian. According to Wikipedia, in terms of confessional structure, in the same 1930, Greek Catholics, with 1526 people, were the majority, followed by 159 Moslems, 3 Orthodox and 2 Baptists.

Today Breba has 500 houses and 1500 inhabitants.

Important monuments have been preserved in the village: the wooden church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel (1531); the ensemble of the Holy Archangels Church, which includes the cemetery, the parish house (1904) and the gate (a copy of the original, dating from 1790 and housed in the Village Museum in Sighetul-Marmacia).

Prince Charles visited the village in 2004 and supported a project in which three old wooden houses were brought to Breb and restored, which can now be seen on House Street.

William Blacker, who has lived in Breb for many years since the 1990s, has since become “out of place” and has published a book with great excitement called “By the Enchanted Road: A Story of Love and Life in Romania” and promotes it in a way that is better than anyone else.

The streets of Breba form a chain about 6 km long, going up or down, passing one by one the historical monuments in the village, as well as traditional houses that are scattered in freshly mown meadows and seem fairytale-like. The gates of Maramures are impressive – local folklore says that the richer the gates are in decorations, the richer the family.

          To understand the role and purpose of the church in the middle of the village, you traveller must understand that it identifies with the heart that pulsates life in a body, it is the identity document of the community, it is our direct line with eternity, the bond that in all times united those who have crossed its threshold; for this reason absolutely everything significant in the life of the community was happening in and around the Church.    

          The Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel has been likened to a history book, whereas it has imprinted in it (for those who can read) the influence and imprint of each historical period through which it wandered.

           As a keeper of the great hourglass measuring the times, itself having 400 years old, with 500-year-old elements, raised from the root and hearth of the one before it, gathered around and stacked up beneath it many generations of passers-by through life.

         Erected by ethnic Orthodox Romanians in 1626, in the old typology of Maramureş churches (chapel type), it succeeded to fit and reconcile those who built it: to fit the earthlings from two villages that united and to reconcile the social differences between the Germans (landowners) and serfs.

          Built of oak guard wood, yet from the beginning, it wore a bell 100 years older than it, because the tower of the old church in Copăciş was placed on its top (1531), the symbol of Nemes, and from the body of the same church, which was resettled here, the current roof (structure) was crafted. Therefore, recycling is by no means a recent concept or foreign to these lands, especially since they have been found, according to laboratory analyzes, on the secondary roof, wooden tiles (shingles) since 1475 (550 years).

  Then, after 1739, (when the last Orthodox bishop of Maramureş of those times is remembered), under Austro-Hungarian rule, the people of Maramureş were also informed that, by order of the Royal House of Vienna, they would now be called united with Rome (Greek-Catholics) and the church in Breb would enter into the patrimony of the Church United with Rome.

During this ruling, between 1854-1868, the little church entered a process of restoration, making some significant changes. A new altar was built, much more spacious, with Western influences, the planimetry was changed (from nave to cross type church) and the original church painting, from 1626, was covered with a decorative painting (girdles with traditional motifs of the time), windows and door were widened. From the old altar we still have preserved the foot of the Holy Table, carved in the shape of a chalice (exposed in the church) and a couple of icons from the original iconostasis.

In 1948, again the political leadership “knows what is best”, this time the Romanian Communist Party informs the Romanians in Transylvania that from now on they will call themselves Orthodox again, so the place of worship returns to the patrimony of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

  To speak about the bond between the authentic Romanian peasant and the village church is like talking about the connection between man and his own blood; the peasant has no connection with the Church, he is and feels part of the Church and the Church is simply part of him. Maybe to some people this state of things seems utopia, but we invite them to postpone for some time the experience of their own daily life and going to a traditional Romanian village to seek to live, to seek the joy of living in the midst of God’s creation and not man’s; who knows, maybe they will have the surprise of learning more from the simple words of some peasant and will “discover” more than sinking their noses into what they know what is otherwise valuable studies and writings.

     In the traditional Romanian village, social life is intertwined, to the point of oneness with religious life, in which everyone participates, from small to large. So if men erected this shrine, then women were the ones who adorned it with the work of their hands: towels, rugs and woollen carpets about which we have the “humble” peretence to have caught the Great Union (1918), the traditional motifs authentically from Maramureş, present in the fabrics, confirming this.  

And let’s not forget about the crosses and icons between the 17th-20th centuries, each with its own story, which add patrimonial value to the little church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Breb. 

Come to think of it, therefore, you realize that in the same church there are also Copăciş and Breb; and the Nemes and the serfs; and of the Orthodox, and of the United; both of men and women; a part from 1531, another part from 1626 and another from 1868, but all of them gathering, all clutching them to your chest, so that you come to realize that it is not the Church that belongs to some, but we, all of us, belong to the Church, the heart of this community. 

Wooden church of the "Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel", UNESCO, Şurdești.

Built in 1721 by the Greek Catholic community of the village and supervised by master craftsman Iona Makari from mountain oak wood, the church is impressive in keeping with wooden structures of the time, with a total height of 72 metres. The main tower is surrounded by four smaller towers, making this wooden church with its 54 metres the tallest in the world of the period. Combining all the elements of architecture, support, and decoration in the most developed form of the time, this church is the main reference point for wooden churches, achieving constructive and aesthetic perfection in its implementation. Since 1999, the church has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and in the new list of historical monuments.

"Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel" wooden church from Rogoz, UNESCO

The wooden church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Rogoz, Maramures county, is one of the most interesting and valuable in Transylvania. Rogoz is located 6 km from Tirgu Lepus.

The church is on the list of historical monuments from 2004, code MM-II-m-A-04618. This historical monument is also included in the World Heritage List under the code 904.

The church is constructed of massive elm beams closed at right angles and in some places reinforced with thick wooden plugs. The church has a less common type of plan: a polygonal narthex facing south, a rectangular nave and an apse of a retreat altar, polygonal, with seven sides (instead of the usual five).

The church is entered through a richly decorated door on the south wall.

Inside, the main beam of the nave vault and the consoles are decorated with a rope motif. The exterior of the church is richly decorated: the southern façade has a profiled rope motif in the middle, the entrance door to the church has a bracketed opening and a frame decorated with a simple profile, double rope and rosettes, and to the left of the door is a cross decorated with the same motifs. The cornice is supported by consoles with a cap, and the beams under the cornice have notched edges. The roof is asymmetrical (about 1.20 m from the axis) to protect the “mass of mansions” along the northern façade. The bell tower rises above the narthex, square, with an open bell tower, in a cantilever, with pillars and arches, and a high pyramidal roof with corner turrets. The tower with a truncated cone is made with great skill, and the conical helmet is divided into three steps.

The painting also contributes to the special value of this monument. The interior painting dates back to 1785, the grandstand was added in the 19th century, and the existing painting was completed in 1834. The original painting is well preserved in the altar, narthex, and with some imperfections in the nave.

The exterior decoration of the church gives the monument a special beauty due to its richness and complexity, while the interior decoration of the church is complex.

The village of Rogoz was first documented in 1488 (Rogoz), when it belonged to the fortress of Ciceului in the Someș valley (Bistriţa Năsăud county) belonging to Stefan cel Mare and other rulers of Moldavia. 

The church is located in the “Lapus Country”, in the valley of the Lapus River, and was built after the Tatar invasion in 1661, as evidenced by the inscription at the entrance: “since they were enslaved by fire”. The tradition of the construction of the church in 1663 by the village community on the site of the old church was, of course, preserved by the inscription at the entrance, which is undated but easily corrected over time. Structural features date back to the same period.

In 1785, it was painted by the artists Radu Munteanu and Nicolae Mane; as the following inscription on the altar states: “From the village of Mane, priest Todor and Vlăşin priest Ioan, and paid this servant of God, the man Gregory and his wife Ioana”. The inscription in the nave reads: “In June 1785, in 10 days, this holy church was painted and completed in 11 days in September.” The Tatar invasion of 1717 is also mentioned in the nave, and the artists’ signatures appear: “Veleat of the Tatars of 1717. Painted by Munteanu Radu from Ungureni and Man Niculai from Poiana Porkului”.

In 1834, a tribune was built on the western side of the nave, the parapet of which was repainted the same year, according to an inscription on its edge: “This bridge was painted in the year of Xs. 1834, son of Bod(ea) Hrihorii”. At the same time, the windows of the nave were modified and the ceiling of the narthex and the vault of the nave were repainted.

Saint Anne (Sfânta Ana) Monastery, Rohia.

Among the valuable church and religious art monuments,  which attract the admiration and appreciation of visitors from the country and abroad, a leading place is occupied by the The “Saint Ana” Monastery from Rohia, in ” Lapuşului Land”, Maramureş County. Located in a picturesque setting, on the ridge of a hill, in the middle of a beech and oak forest, the Rohia Monastery is the privileged place of seekers of peace and comfort, lovers of artistic and natural beauty.

The beginnings of the monastery are related to the person of the Romanian Orthodox priest, Nicolae Gherman (1877-1959), parish priest in the village at the foot of Vineyard Hill – Rohia, hill on which the monastery is located. The founding priest erected the monastery in memory of his daughter, the child Anuţa, whom he lost, being called to the Lord in November 1922, at the age of only 10. This little girl became a herald of God’s will because, nights in a row, the child would appear in a dream to her father, asking him to erect a “house of the Virgin Mary” on the Viei  Hill, on the border of Rohia. At first, the grieving father kept his dreams in his heart, until one day a faithful woman, named Elijah’s Flower, came to him and said: “Father, why don’t you listen to the voice of God, who commands You through the child Anuta, to build a home to the Mother of God on the Hill of the Vineyard?” Confused the father asked her – “What house shall I make to the Mother of God?” to which the woman replied – “Convent to do, father!” At that moment Father Nicholas realized that it was a divine judgment, and filled with peace of mind, he decided to erect a monastery in memory of his daughter and for the comfort of the faithful in these areas. Supported by his fellow villagers, the priest decided to build the Holy Monastery in a clearing called “at Pintea’s oak” where, according to custom, a cross was placed. A few days later, however, they were astonished to find that the cross they had placed in the clearing was no longer in place, but was somewhere else, precisely on the spur of the hill, on a cliff. Suspecting that a malevolent hand had made this move, the cross was brought and placed in its place, and a believer, named Alexandru Pop remained on guard overnight. Late in the evening, when it began to snow, the believer returned home. The next morning, when he arrived there, although there was no trace on the newly fallen snow, the cross was not in place, but was again found on the site of the present monastery church. All considered that this could only be a revealed sign, showing the place where the church of the holy monastery should be erected. The works for the construction of the church began in 1923. 

After many hardships, with great sacrifices and helped by the enthusiasm and arms of hundreds of believers, a modest church and a monastic house were erected within two years.

The monastery was consecrated only in 1926, by the worthy bishop Nicolae Ivan of Cluj, on August 15th, the celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which became the monastery’s patron. Thus, “the first settlement of this kind” was founded in the attached Transylvania. For a long time, the settlement remained at the stage of a hermitage, unable to develop due to very difficult access. The monastery would develop after 1965 and especially in 1970, when electricity was introduced and the access road was arranged.

The zeal and dedication of abbots with a real vocation enriched the patrimony of Rohia Monastery, patrimony which today consists of the following values: “The Oak House” (1965), “The House of the Priory” (1969-1972), “The House with Chapel” (1973-1975), “The Poet’s House” (1977-1979), “The Summer Altar” (1980-1983), the “Maramures Gate” at the entrance to the monastery (1988), “The White House” (1988-1992), “The Village Gate” (1999-2001),  “Maramures Corner” composed of a house and a wooden church (2001) etc. One of the very important achievements of this settlement was, is and shall remain the fact that here, during its 100 years of existence, hundreds of thousands of Romanians made their aspirations of unity of nation and faith come true.

Today, through the reorganization of the “Saint Ana” Romanian Orthodox Church, the Rohia Monastery is under the canonical protection of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramureş and Sătmar. It is located in the “Land of Lăpuş”, a beautiful, picturesque and blessed corner of the Romanian country, at about 50 km from Baia Mare Municipality and 43 km from Dej Municipality, on the border of Rohia village belonging to Târgu Lăpuș, in the middle of a beech and oak forest, on the ridge of a hill named “Vineyard Hill”, at an altitude of about 500 m.

Access routes:

The connecting junction to the monastery is the town of Târgu Lăpuș, which is located at a distance of about 9 km from the monastery. Târgu Lăpuș can be reached either on DN 18B Baia Mare – Târgu Lăpuș, or on the Dej – Baia Mare road to Gâlgău locality, and from there to Târgu Lăpuș. It can also be reached on the road Dej – Târgu Lăpuș through Măgoaja. The railway stations with connection to the monastery are Baia Mare, Dej and Gâlgău.